Mobilehomes: cooling systems.

Assembly Member Connolly, joined by Assembly Member Kalra, advances a measure that would bar covenants in mobilehome tenancy arrangements from prohibiting the installation, upgrade, or use of cooling systems and would spell out when management may impose limited, exception-based restrictions. The core changes apply across mobilehome parks as well as subdivisions, cooperatives, or condominiums for mobilehomes and resident-owned mobilehome parks, seeking to ensure residents can install or upgrade cooling equipment subject to defined limits, with private remedies if those rights are violated.

Under the measure, covenants or restrictions that effectively block cooling-system installation or use are void and unenforceable. Management would be prohibited from charging fees, requiring a particular cooling system or contractor, claiming rebates or commissions tied to cooling-system work, or mandating the removal of cooling systems or blocking upgrades, except in three enumerated circumstances: if the cooling activity would violate law, if a required permit is not granted, or if power-service amperage cannot be accommodated and this limitation is demonstrated in writing by a governmental enforcement authority. The term “cooling system” is defined broadly to include portable and window air units, swamp or evaporative coolers, cooling fans, heat pumps, and other technologies that reasonably provide a cooling benefit, with health and safety standards required by law, and tenancy may not be terminated for permitted cooling-system activity. In a separate provision applicable to subdivisions, cooperatives, condominiums, and resident-owned parks, nearly identical prohibitions and restrictions apply, with an explicit enforcement mechanism.

The measure also provides a private enforcement framework: willful violations may expose the violator to actual damages and a civil penalty of up to $2,000 payable to the harmed party, and, in the subdivision/cooperative/condominium context, prevailing parties may recover reasonable attorney’s fees. Overall, the provisions are designed to align with existing Mobilehome Residency Law by extending protections against restrictive covenants to cooling systems while delineating exceptions and remedies, without creating an explicit state enforcement role. The text does not specify an operative date, and implementation questions remain regarding retroactive application to existing covenants, the standards for determining “willful” violations, and the process for obtaining written determinations from authorities when amperage limitations are claimed.